Padres trade Denorfia to Seattle

Mariners sending minor league outfielder, pitcher to San Diego

The Padres' Chris Denorfia, who just got traded to the Seattle Mariners, shakes hands with pitching coach Darren Balsey while in the dugout before the start of the Padres game against the Cardinals at Petco Park in San Diego on Thursday.
— Hayne Palmour IV

The Padres' Chris Denorfia, who just got traded to the Seattle Mariners, shakes hands with pitching coach Darren Balsey while in the dugout before the start of the Padres game against the Cardinals at Petco Park in San Diego on Thursday.
— Hayne Palmour IV

The Padres gave Chris Denorfia his first real shot to stick. Now they are giving him a one-way ticket to the sort of postseason contention that the franchise envisioned this spring.

Yes. Reset.

Rebuffing multiple teams’ push to pry away Ian Kennedy and Joaquin Benoit as Thursday’s non-waiver trading deadline expired, the Padres made one final deal to unload a pending free agent for organizational depth that can fit into the team’s plans beyond this fall: In exchange for Denorfia – the 34-year-old outfielder who found a niche mashing left-handed pitching in his five years in San Diego – the Mariners parted with a pair of 25-year-old prospects in outfielder Abraham Almonte and reliever Stephen Kohlscheen.

“Everyone loves Denorfia, so it is bittersweet to trade him,” Assistant General Manager A.J. Hinch said. “Fan favorite. Staff favorite. Teammate favorite. Approaching free agency. We made a determination that he was likely to be traded as this process got under way and he fit on a lot of rosters.”

Just not on the Padres’ roster.

At least not after the Padres’ slumping bats buried the team in the NL West standings so deep that ownership opted to pull the plug on the season – and General Manager Josh Byrnes’ tenure – in late June. From there, calls into the baseball operations team guiding the ship during the search for a permanent general manager – which could come to an end within the next week – flooded the front office as teams gauged just where the Padres stood on their assets, especially their pending free agents.

Seth Smith? No, the Padres decided he would stay put when they signed him to a two-year, $13 million deal in early July.

But they shipped closer Huston Street to the Angels after the All-Star break for four minor leaguers headlined by second base prospect Taylor Lindsey and saved roughly $2.8 million last week when they unloaded Chase Headley for Yankees youngsters Yangervis Solarte and Rafael De Paula.

Thursday’s deal nets a switch-hitting outfielder who will report to the Padres on Friday and a hard-throwing right-hander who will slot into the Triple-A El Paso bullpen for now.

A versatile, speedy option for manager Bud Black’s outfield rotation, Abraham cracked the Mariners’ opening day roster before his struggles sent him to Triple-A Tacoma, where he penned a .267/.333/.390 batting line with six homers, 31 RBIs and seven steals in 72 games.

Meanwhile, Kohlscheen’s 94 mph fastball/slider combo helped him carve out a spot on the Southern League all-star team. Through 38 appearances split between Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tacoma, the 6-foot-6 right-hander has struck out 55 and walked 10 while posting a 2.70 earned-run average over 56 2/3 innings.

“I think we acquired some talent – some talent that’s ready to be here and some talent that’s going to take some nurturing,” Hinch said while assessing the Padres’ total haul for Street, Headley and Denorfia. “Adding the infield depth that we did was a key.”

Thursday’s developments leave the Padres with about $40.5 million committed to seven players next year – Carlos Quentin ($8 million), Benoit ($8 million), Cameron Maybin ($7 million), Smith ($6 million), Cory Luebke ($5.25 million), Will Venable ($4.25 million) and Jedd Gyorko ($2 million) – in addition to a handful of significant raises due to the likes of Kennedy and Tyson Ross, who are earning $6.1 million and $1.98 million this year, respectively.

Denorfia, of course, wouldn’t have factored into those plans without opting to resign with the team that gave him his first multi-year deal in 2012, a two-year, $4.25 extension that expires after this season. He earned it with hard-nosed play in the field and a knack for squaring up left-handed pitching after toiling eight seasons in the Reds’ and Athletics’ organizations, which included missing all of 2007 after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his throwing shoulder.

“I knew where I was coming in here; I was sort of at a crossroads,” said Denorfia, a .301/.367/.443 life-time hitter against left-handed pitching after signing a minor league deal with the Padres ahead of the 2010 season. “Was I going to be a four-A player that had a little bit of time or was I going to make something of myself? I just hit it right here. It was the right time. It was the right team.

“It was the right opportunity.”

Of course, something akin to all of that was what it was going to take to pry Kennedy and Benoit away from an organization already factoring the two into their 2015 plans. The Padres fielded calls on both up against the deadline – including the Dodgers’ “hard” push, according to one source, to slot Benoit ahead of closer Kenley Jansen in their bullpen – only to stand pat.

“Obviously the names that are always popular are the names that are performing the best and Ian and Joaquin have both pitched extremely well and are good major league players and we’re happy to have them on our team,” Hinch said. “A lot of players are asked about this time of year and a lot are rumored about. We made the trades we made and we’re happy.”

Benoit was certainly happy.

The Padres’ 37-year-old closer breathed a bit easier as he headed to the bullpen some 15 minutes after the deadline passed and even easier when the phone didn’t ring when he arrived.